iPhone 4 and 4S

[bob_the_gorilla]

My girlfriend is on a Vodafone contract, using my old unlocked iPhone 4 running iOS 5. She has good 3G coverage.

I am a Three customer. When I send her an iMessage, sometimes (maybe 25–50% of the time, varying throughout the day) she receives it instantly. The rest of the time, there is a delay, which can range from 1 to 15 minutes in my experience. I have never experienced this when messaging other friends (on Three and O2).

Interestingly, often the iMessages seem to be delivered when the phone's data connection is used, for instance if I send an SMS to her then any pending iMessages are usually delivered seconds later. Again, this has never been the case with other carriers, where 99% of iMessages are delivered instantly if they have network coverage.

Is anyone else experiencing similar trouble? Is there anything we can do about this? It seems to be either a problem with Vodafone or with that one handset (which I should note worked great with iMessage for me in the past).

[Nabs]

Can't save i've noticed anything bob_the_gorilla.

Will keep an eye for it though. 

Does this happen on WiFi as well or is it just 3G?

[chrisdeeming1]

It kind of happens to me, but not as frequently as it does for you.

I'm on Vodafone and my wife is on O2.

But, where she works she gets a very poor data connection so I reckon it's more to do with that than anything else.

Her messages also fail to me so she often has to tap the message and Send as Text. However, the odd thing about that is when she does so, I don't receive it as a proper text, I receive it as an e-mail as an MMS message from O2.

[Simon]

Hi bob_the_gorilla

The iMessage function is linked to your Apple ID and the message is sent via data connection over either 3G or Wi-Fi.

This could be down to a couple of things. You mention that your girlfriend receives the messages only about 50% of the time, for the other 50% where they're not received is she generally in the same location? Does this location have poor data coverage?

Has anybody else with the iMessage function tried to send a message to your girlfriend and are these delayed? Are they delayed if she sends a message to you?

It's not something that we've come across as yet as a fault so I'm just trying to determine what the cause may be.

Thanks

Simon

[chrisdeeming1]

Simon,

I've experienced some issues with iMessage today.

I don't know if there's any info you can shed as well as to the issue I mentioned earlier whereby when my wife sends me a failed iMessage as a text, it actually comes through to me as an e-mail from O2 which is an MMS message. The e-mail contains a text file with the text she's sent to me.

The issue specifically today is apparently my wife sent me a message which didn't fail, but I didn't receive it as an iMessage and her phone didn't send it automatically as a text, despite being configured to do so.

It does seem a little bit patchy. I love it, but it will only work if it is completely seamless.

Earlier though, I did notice that my phone automatically decided to send a text to her as an SMS when iMessage failed. This is the first time I've seen this happen, but it doesn't seem to happen always.

[Cnelsonsc]

I have the very same problem, the message comes through on my ipad about 15 minutes before my iphone 4S. Im not sure if the cause could be a faulty sim.

[c53204]

If you haven't got the tag for read, or delivered. Tap and hold the last iMessage (Only works if it hasnt been delivered), you will get the option to send as a normal txt.

[bob_the_gorilla]

I'm glad to see some replies! Thanks guys. To answer the questions:

Does this happen on WiFi as well or is it just 3G?

There's no wifi coverage, only 3G. I will be able to test wifi this weekend.

Is she generally in the same location?

Yes. I didn't really make it clear, but I'm talking about while she's stationary, there will be a mixture of messages deivering straight away, and being delayed. For example, a typical conversation perhaps has two messages deliver immediately, while a follow-up message is delayed and delivers 6 minutes later.

Any further messages sent in that time will all be delayed and deliver at once. This makes me feel like it is a data problem, as it's over 3G. The problem doesn't seem to be limited to a single location though, so I don't think it's just a wonky spot for coverage.

Does this location have poor data coverage?

It seems to be pretty good — 3 bars or more, indoors — although interestingly this evening she's had some trouble with data connectivity I gather despite having good signal. I'm going to troubleshoot this evening. (YO10 postcode.)

Has anybody else with the iMessage function tried to send a message to your girlfriend and are these delayed?

Noone has tried, we'll test this when we can.

Are they delyaed if she sends a message to you?

They do not seem to be. Will confirm.

when my wife sends me a failed iMessage as a text, it actually comes through to me as an e-mail from O2 which is an MMS message

Chris, this means she's messaging your email address not your phone number. (iMessage can work with both emails and phone numbers.) If she messages your actual number, then the fallback will be SMS; otherwise the fallback is an MMS to that email address.

[c53204]

iMessages I've sent vary from seconds to a few minutes (longest 10min). Think of it as Apples BBM (Blackberry Messenger). 

iOS5 / iCloud has a few glitches, bugs - only to be expected of a new system. I'm sure Blackberry had problems when they first launched BBM.

At least it is easy to send as a txt message (if the iMessage has failed, or is delayed). 

[Simon]

Hi Everyone

Thanks for coming back to us and providing info about your iMessage experiences so far. We're not aware of any particular glitches or errors that have been bought to our attention, however I have a few examples here of delayed messages.

I'll investigate this further and provide you with updates as I receive them.

Rhanks

Simon

[Octoberoid]

If you made sure all the diagnostics have been made or followed through by the Vodafone Tech support people, then it's something beyond the mere troubleshooting. Restore the software or try different network modes, it is intermittent and it happens to all carriers not just Vodafone... you do no of course know all people who are using other networks and what their problems are!! iMessage is one of the things requiring the strongest data connection if we're talking about an instant correspondence between two ends, 3G falls under a congestion most of the times indeed so you never guarantee unless something was reported against a certain area you reside in or you frequent to.... Do not make resemblance between BBM and iMessage as Blackberry've got their own

 server which makes it easier for users to enjoy the experience through any data connection.

Info above are assured, and they make full technical sense, so do not blame Vodafone for that

Cheers and stuff.

[Lockstock74]

I must be seriously missing the point here as I can't see what iMessage offers over SMS other than a blue bubble instead of green.

As we are on limited data plans and unlimited text plans, why waste data when you can send free texts?

Please let me know what I am missing here?

[qahmed]

I've noticed that since last week this has been happening a lot.  Imessages take at least 5 minutes (upto 15 minutes)  to get delivered.  It's not just imessages, it's all push notificartions - emails and other push notifications get delayed.  I have tested this on several numbers several locations and it is happening.  If I turn 3G off it works fine so it's clearly an issue with 3G on Vodafone.  I've spent a lot of time on the phone with Customer Services but unfortunately they are in a denial state at the moment.  They have made me try a number of things - Reset network settings, update ios software, even change my SIM.  I told them that none of these will work as If i put a SIM from another network and if works fi9ne.  it also works fine on GPRS - their suggestion was to leave it on GPRS!  Hopefully you can held as this delay is quite annoying.

[wsc9005]

iMessages = Unlimited MMS and Video Message (Within data allowances).  It also brings messaging functionality to iPad and iPod Touch

I often use 2G data instead of 3G as I don't use my phone for browsing and youtube. Vodafone 2G data is more stable for iMessage and I also experience delays on recieving iMessages when connected to 3G. 

[sinner]

thought i would share my experience.  As i have a post paid plan where I only pay for what i use, i get nothing for free since I don't really use my phone too much.  So I thought that imessage was an awesome idea in theory, or when it works.

I only use wifi connection for data, so really I can only use imessage when at home or at work.  But there are times when I have been home all day, connected to the wifi, and when I receive a sms through imessage i noticed the time it was sent and the time that I recieve it,there is sometimes a 15-20 min delay.

So i think the problem is with apple servers rather than vodafone.  that is just my experience anyway